


The man who married Winter

by ChicagosLights



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: M/M, Magic, Pete is Winter, christmas sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:55:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28234284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagosLights/pseuds/ChicagosLights
Summary: Patrick always had the same dream every first snowfall; of when he was a child in the midst of his parents' divorce and his mother's mom had shown him the tragic tale of Winter and his broken heart. A visitor came that night resulting in Patrick making a childhood fueled promise that he'd be the one to repair and melt Winter's broken heart.Now at 24 Patrick is an early abandoned bride at the altar before even getting to the alter, at a job that has a boss that cares more for the money than making people happy with flowers, and the memory of that Christmas night haunting him since. A coincidental break in his older brother's relationship leads him back to his grandmother's house to clean up for his brother to live there for a while.Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, magic is serious about promises and it's time for Patrick to fulfill his.
Relationships: Past Dallon Weekes/Patrick Stump - Relationship, Pete Wentz/Patrick Stump
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

It was always at the first snowfall that Patrick remembered that Christmas Eve at his grandma’s house, no matter where he was he could smell the cookies in the kitchen and the burning of wood from the fireplace. His mother would be in the foyer trying to hold her voice together while her marriage was falling apart and Patrick only age 7 had no idea why his mommy and daddy weren’t together for the holiday only that his usually distant grandma was practically dumping attention on the kid. 

_“Patty, come here, come look at the snow” his grandma’s voice trilled some the living room, the little 7-year-old had run to the kitchen the check on the oven_

_“Gramma don’t call me Patty please” the mop of Patrick’s head appeared around the corner frowning “What's so pretty about the snow? It always snows in Chicago”_

_His grandma’s eyes twinkled behind her glasses and her smile was mischievous “ah, but it’s not this kind of snow, this si_ special _snow, Patty. Winter gives us diamonds where we live”_

_“Huh?” Patrick waddled up to the window and pressed his face against the glass, the coolness almost burning “I don’t see diamonds, just snow! And what do you mean Winter, isn’t Winter just a season?”_

_grandma scoffed, almost looking offended “of course not, Winter is the king of ice and snow, though I suppose Patricia hasn’t told you that story. Would you like to hear the story, Patty?”_

_“A story?” the 7 year-olds eyes lit up with excitement “oh yes please! I wanna hear a story, are there dragons or mermaids?”_

_grandma laughed and made her way towards her chair, the thing was disgustingly pink with a large fluffy quilt “not dragons and mermaids, but rather creatures of snow and made of ice”_

_Patrick frowned and walked over, sitting on the carpet looking up at his grandma “made of snow and ice? How can they move, are they magic?”_

_“Wait a moment Patty, let grandma sit down” she gently chided him, settling in the plush chair with a heavy sigh before reaching into the bag hanging off the side and pulling out a picture book “now this book is old, Patty, but come look. Come on now, come look!”_

_So Patrick did, standing beside the old woman as she began to tell the tale; of Winter’s kingdom of snow and ice, of the coldness being feared instead of loved and adored, of villages and kingdoms of mortal men only seeing winter as something of death, of the King of snow and ice being alone and how it tore at his heart causing it to become a thing of deadly icicles and frozen over wounds. The tale of how Winter had become jealous of Summer and Spring wedding each other, how in pain Winter had begun to freeze over their heart to avoid any kind of love and how villages and kingdoms tried and tried to find someone to be Winter’s lover but all that happened was harsh cold and violent blizzards._

_“Wait, gramma!” Patrick cried as the old woman began to put the book away “what happened? Did Winter ever find a wife?”_

_“I’m afraid not, Patty” his grandma reached over and smoothed his hair out of his face, “they say Winter is still alone now, his court trying to find him a bride still to fix his broken heart. That’s why Winter gives us diamond snow, they say whoever can find the diamond is the one that is meant to be his bride”_

_“Mom are you telling Patrick that silly winter story again” Patricia walked into the room, her face water as her smile “Tricky sweetie why not go check on the cookies?”_

_“But mo-o-o-om! I wanna hear about WInter” Patrick whined but headed to the kitchen, announcing to both adults the oven was beeping._

_Dinner was green bean casserole and potatoes, Patrick was excitedly talking about how he was going to find the diamond and make Winter happy again not noticing how his mom was practically giving her mother the evil eye. After letting him eat 3 Christmas cookies Patrick was put to bed in the guest room, snuggled with a white reindeer plushie as an early Christmas gift. After his mother told him a bedtime story about the moon and a spoon he snuggled closer to it, when the door shut he counted to ten before he began whispering to Holly._

_“Holly, Grandma told me about Winter needing a bride” Patrick sat up with the blanket warped around him, looking like a snuggly little burrito “his hearts all broken and frozen, grandma says no one’s been able to fix it”_

_The reindeer remained silent, looking back at him with blue fake-jeweled eyes._

_“That’s what I thought too, but I don’t think Mommy wants to marry Winter” Patrick pursed his lips and looked towards his window “it’s still snowing, and gramma said that, that it’s a diamond snow. The book was beautiful Holly, there were pictures of castles and snow and faeries...but there wasn’t a picture of Winter.”_

_Why hadn’t there been any drawings? There’d been WInter’s castle, pictures of the members of his court, different villages and kingdoms, snow-white reindeer like Holly and strange snowy-creatures he’d never seen before, but not even a glimpse of what Winter themself looked like. Was Winter a boy, a girl? Were they a scary monster actually or a beautiful person? Patrick continued to muse on this until something made a sound out in the hall, he jumped and dove to hide behind the pillows at the head of the bed, peeking out from under the blanket confused and terrified. After a few moments Patrick started to think maybe it was just his mom or grandma getting up to use the bathroom, monsters weren’t real after all! And if they were Holly was there to protect him, swallowing his fear Patrick slowly sat up again and crawled over his pillow to the edge of the bed. The house was quiet again save for the wind outside and Patrick’s breathing, oh he was being silly he decided and hopped off the bed clutching Holly to his chest with the blanket wrapped around him._

_The hall was dark, almost pitch black, save for some light peeking in from outside where the moon was covered by clouds. Patrick glanced around frowning but froze again as he heard another noise downstairs, his head snapped towards the end of the hall where the stairs were, was something going to come up? He waited, holding his breath for another sound or anything at all but received nothing, was it his imagination again? He knew his mommy would be mad if he was found out of bed but the curiosity won over the fear and he padded his way out of his room and carefully down the steps. Downstairs was lit up with the faint Christmas lights still glowing in the living room, Patrick stood in the hallway staring at the Santa-figure glowing on the entertainment center with stars above his head glittering._

_Patrick frowned, there was nothing here, what on Earth had made that sound? It had to have been his imagination, he’d get in trouble for being down here! Scowling Patrick turned to head back down the hall but paused, looking over at his grandma’s chair. She wouldn’t know if he took another peek at it, right? Plus Holly had wanted to know about the storybook, he could just show her the pictures quickly and run back to bed, no one would know!_

_Sitting by the Santa light Patrick opened the book to a random page, sitting Holly on part of the book and pointing at a snow faerie “this is someone from Winter’s court, he takes care of all the plants and stuff that grow in Winter and he’s the one who throws the diamond in the snow”_

_Holly slumped over a little._

_“Oh, that? That’s supposed to be the-I think Gramma said he takes care of Winter’s reindeer for when he goes out” Patrick pointed at a man wearing furs of bright colors “Winter has reindeer like you, Holly! They’re all pretty and white”_

_Patrick continued showing Holly the photos, pausing to admire them longer than his grandma let him before he noticed something on the page where a king had sent his daughter to be Winter’s bride. He frowned and leaned closer to the book, in between the pages he noticed what looked like someone had ripped a page out trying to keep it clean but missed some bits of paper. Had his grandma done this, why had she ripped a page out, what was the page? Or maybe it wasn’t her, she did say the book was old, maybe grandpa or whoever owned the book before them did it. That was mean though, that meant there was a page Patrick hadn’t gotten to see, he grumbled this to Holly before his heat promptly stopped at something loud hitting the window._

_He threw the book and Holly as well to cover his mouth from screaming, the book hit the ground with a thud that sounded too loud to him and he looked towards the hall expecting his mother to be standing there. There wasn’t of course, there wasn’t any more sounds either so Patrick scrambled forward to grab Holly and close the book, he hurried to his grandma’s chair to put the book back but that’s when he saw it; on the window snow had piled up but there was something that wasn’t snow as well, something that was reflecting Santa's light and glistening. Patrick’s eyes were wide as he stared at it, letting the book fall luckily into grandma’s chair and dropping Holly, was it...was it a diamond? Slowly Patrick walked towards the window as if afraid he was going to break a spell, once there he stood on his toes to peer at it and sure enough it looked like a gem, his heart jumped with excitement and without thinking about making noise now he pushed the ottoman from grandma’s chair to the window. He struggled to push the window up, it finally jerked up and Patrick almost slipped off the ottoman as cold snow fell onto his feet, his teeth chattered as the wind blew in and quickly Patrick grabbed at where he thought the diamond had been; his fingers closed around something hard and cold and just as quick he reached up and this time the window shut closed with ease._

_Patrick almost slipped again getting off the ottoman, he pushed it back in place and scooped Holly up to sit on it, he was cold now from the snow on his legs and where he was sitting but that was ignored as he and his stuffed friend stared in wonder at what lay in his hand. It twinkled and glittered almost impossibly bright, Santa’s light wasn’t enough to make this glow the way it was and as Patrick brought it closer to his face he realized the gem itself was glowing alone._

_“Holly! Do you see this?” he looked excitedly at the reindeer, his grin almost painfully wide “this is a snow diamond! That means-that means someone in the house is supposed to marry Winter!”_

_Patrick jumped up and spun around giggling as he hugged Holly to his chest, grandma was too old to marry Winter but maybe it was for his mom? She could be happy again, after all, dad hadn’t shown up with them this year so maybe she was supposed to-_

_Patrick heard wood creaking and froze._

_He spun around to face where the foyer was, heart, running like a rabbit, how had his mom gotten there? The house seemed to have all warmth sucked out of it as Patrick stood there waiting for whoever or whatever it had been to come out. Again there was more creaking wood followed by something falling over making the kid jump and almost run to the hall until he heard a very human “oh crap!” had someone broken into their house? Patrick had heard about people doing that, or maybe...was it an elf? Now the childish imagination took over the more rational thought that a 7-year-old could have, maybe it was an elf come to see if the house was clean or if Patrick had been naughty._

_“Crap, crap, oh no did I break it?” Patrick slowly crept towards the foyer, whoever it was had a strange almost airy voice._

_When he finally reached the corner and peeked around….Patrick wasn't sure what he was seeing; a guy was there crouched by where the umbrella stand was picking up broken pieces of a weird decoration his grandma had hung by the door, the guy was dressed in pale blues and had thick heavy boots, Patrick frowned and wasn’t sure if he was an elf after all. The guy had gathered all the pieces and sighed, Patrick’s eyes widened as he watched the broken pieces begin to glow and slowly they all connected again not leaving a crack and the weird decoration was good as new, it was hung back on the wall and the man turned around freezing as soon as he spotted Patrick. Now that Patrick could see his face the guy looked goofy because of how wide his eyes were but also...he didn't look like a Christmas elf at all, just a regular guy._

_Patrick frowned “you’re not Santa’s elf”_

_The man blinked now snapped out of whatever trance he was in “uh...h-hey buddy...no, I’m, nope I’m not Santa’s elf...what are you doing awake?”_

_“I heard the snow outside and wanted to show Holly my granmma’s book” he held his stuffie up for the man to see “if you’re not Santa’s elf how did you fix my gramma’s plate?”_

_the man looked panicked, looking around him as if this was a joke “oh um...you saw that, right, awesome...well I’m magic buddy, I’m not Santa’s elf but I’m..magic still”_

_Patrick pursed his lips in thought and narrowed his eyes “magic but you’re not Santa’s elf? Are you a snow faerie then”_

_“Yes! Yeah, that is what I am” the man was smiling now, relieved looking “but um, who are you, buddy? I’ll tell you my name if you tell me yours’_

_“Patrick,” the boy said still squinting at him “if you’re a snow faerie how are you not melting”_

_“Snow faeries aren’t made of ice like that, that’s what happens to ice faeries. I’m Joe, it’s nice to meet you Patrick” he knelt on one knee and gave what was a reassuring smile_

_Patrick decided because he was magic surely he could trust Joe “what are you here for then? I’m not being bad, I just wanted to show Holly my grammas book”_

_“No you’re fine Patrick, I’m...are there any adults awake right now buddy?” when Patrick shook his head Joe frowned “there's...was there before I came here?”_

_“No, just me and Holly. Mommy's asleep and so is gramma” a thought occurred to Patrick and he held his hand out “are you looking for this?”_

_Joe’s eyes widened seeing the diamond in Patrick’s hand “I-did your mom get that buddy? Or someone else?”_

_“_ No _I keep telling you, I’m only awake. I found out by the window” Patrick walked back to the living room and Joe followed, the kid pointed to where the wood was now wet “mommy’s gonna be so mad at me seeing the wet floor, but I found this diamond on the window sill”_

_Joe’s face was blank then, Patrick was unsure of what he was thinking and he was starting to think he’d done something wrong when Joe let out a distressed groan and pressed his hands to his face._

_“Oh no-o-o-o-o! He can’t marry a kid, a kid_ can’t _have found the diamond!” Joe then pulled a little mirror out of his pocket, Patrick tried to stand on his tiptoes to see it but couldn't, judging by Joe’s fae though it wasn’t something good “no, the magic never lies-great a kid found the diamond”_

_“Did I do something bad?” Patrick croaked_

_Joe pocketed the mirror quickly and knelt back down with a gentle smile “no no, I’m sorry buddy just there's been a big misunderstanding I think. Patrick, can you show me the book you talked about?”_

_So Patrick did, handing Joe the book and watching the man’s face turn to surprise “gramma said it’s old, I don’t know who had it before here but there’s a page that was ripped out”_

_The snow faerie said nothing as he opened the book flipping through pages, he stopped where the missing page was frowning and Patrick watched with wide eyes as Joe held his hand out and a page appeared in a quick flashing glow, the snow faerie was about to place it into the book when Patrick snatched it from the air making Joe snap “Hey!”. The picture showed an ornate sleigh, crystals or maybe ice decorated it with silver curling in beautiful patterns, the pale blue made Patrick wonder if it was wood or made of magic snow. The reigns were a stark contrast, a deep red that reminded Patrick of Santa’s coat and the white reindeer even had bright blue jeweled eyes like Holly did, almost like they could blink and jump from the page._

_Standing by the sleigh was a man wearing white and dark furs, his boots were black with metal over them reminding Patrick of when he and his mom had watched LoTR, his hair was long and dark with holly in his hair and skin that was icey blue. That had to be Winter, Patrick realized, he looked scary but sad too._

_“Patrick!” Joe snatched the page back with a huff, he placed it in the book and the page mended itself to the spine “don’t grab things from people without permission”_

_“Is that Winter?” Patrick asked excitedly, completely missing Joe’s annoyance_

_“Yes, if you were an adult that’s who you’d marry” Joe sighed, looking at the page with a mixed look of pain and remorse “but you’re a kid, a kid shouldn't have been able to find the diamond, that’s what Gabe said"_

_“Who”_

_“Not important,” Joe said quickly and shut the book, putting it back in the bag “I finally thought we had it, I finally thought..but it’s a_ kid _and_ _a_ kid _can’t get married…”_

_Patrick huffed and glared at Joe “I’m not gonna be a kid forever! I’m going to be an adult one day”_

_That made Joe pause, he slowly turned his head and seemed to now consider Patrick “that’s right...mortals grow up...Patrick you’re right!”_

_The kid squealed as Joe scooped him up and twirled around with him, Patrick was dizzy as Joe set him back down but now the snow faerie looked happy, only for a moment though before that smile faded._

_“But that’s banking on whether or not you’d still find it again if you were an adult...and more so even assuming you’d remember this night”_

_“You talk weird” Patrick frowned and sat on the ground “gramma says that getting married is a bad thing but she told me the story about Winter and if it makes him happy again I’ll marry him”_

_Joe tensed and frowned at Patrick “careful what you say, Patrick, magic takes promises like that seriously”_

_“Winter would be happy again though wouldn’t he?” Patrick stood up and held the diamond out again “I found it! That means I’m meant to marry WInter, when I’m an adult I’ll marry Winter!”_

_Something happened then, the diamond in Patrick’s hand suddenly started glowing and a painfully bright flash caused Patrick to cry out in pain and drop the gem covering his eyes. Joe again said “crap!” and picked the diamond up, when the light died down Patrick uncovered his eyes and started seeing the diamond was now red like a ruby, the snow faerie looked panicked._

_“Now you did it kid, now you’ve really gone and done it” Joe groaned, he took Patrick’s wrist and pressed the diamond back to his hand “well Patrick because of your promise the magic has sealed it. I don’t know if you’re going to remember this when you’re older or anything, but keep this okay? Keep this and if you do remember your promise then maybe we’ll see each other again”_

_That didn’t make any sense to Patrick, he frowned watchingJoe point towards the wet mess by the window and watched it disappear along with the window locking itself. Joe guided him back upstairs and even tucked him into bed, sitting beside him offering to tell a story until he fell asleep. Patrick’s eyes grew heavy as he heard about snowdrops and white pansies in a garden, reindeer with fur as soft as clouds and a castle glistening with ice and looking like a fairytale_

* * *

A loud thump made Patrick jerk awake from his nap, an embarrassing snort sounded and the man was horrified to realize that not only had he made that noise but his boss was now standing in front of the desk with his arms crossed and a brow quirked. 

“Do I pay you to dream, Stump?” 

Patrick shook his head momentarily voiceless, then realizing he looked like a lost fish croaked out “No Mr. Hawkins, apologies sir” 

“I’m sure you are. I need you to get back to doing your job, look through this binder and get the flower orders out, the city’s decision that Fairytale Flowers are going to be the ones to make decorations for this Christma’s festival” Mr. Hawkins had an acidic smile plastered on his face, pretty obvious he’d rather spit on the binder and throw it in the trash instead of handling it “we need to get these done soon, Stump, understand?” 

“Of course sir, I’ll get right onto it” 

Mr. Hawkins hummed making Patrick’s skin prickle and walked away, back to his office and shutting the door with a click. The man behind the desk let out a weak sigh and looked at the wall of windows, outside was still snowing just like this morning, the first snowfall of winter. Turning to the binder Patrick flipped it open and winced seeing how many pages there were, nothing said Christmas like commercialism ordering flowers for a festival that was almost always miserable, it was going to be a late night. Patrick got to it regardless, beginning to start the mechanical routine of ordering and sending, ordering and sending, it was routine enough now that Patrick had time to multitask and think back to his dream. Without fail every time the first snowfall happened he’d have that dream, of that snowy Christmas Eve at his grandmother’s house and the strange dream he had that night. 

He remembered waking up, thinking that the whole thing had been a crazy dream since Joe “the snow faerie” hadn’t been there, like the silly kid he was he’d even asked Holly if it had been a dream. His mom and grandmother hadn’t said anything that morning about weird noises and outside there were no footsteps so of course Joe the Snow Faerie was just a crazy dream, he’d even remembered to look for the red diamond but found nothing. Sometimes Patrick thought that silly dream was why he’d ended up at Fairytale Flowers, falling asleep in a dream to the story of a mystical winter garden might have been why his love of flowers became such a monumental thing, or realistically it might have had to do with his mother finding a nice job at a flower shop after they’d gotten back on their feet after the nasty divorce. Fairytale Flowers itself however was a stark contrast to its cheerful name; soul-sucking, an asshole manager that was good at faking charisma and hitting the right sour nerve to keep his leash on his workers, and the building itself even was monochrome and empty, like the company decided to make their base of operations the total opposite of their name. 

By the time Patrick finally finished all the orders he was 4 hours past his usual quitting time (6:40ish) and to make his irritation worse Mr. Hawkins had decided to stay after as well, occasionally leaving his office to chat with Patrick, if you can call chatting reminding Patrick of his earlier embarrassment nap and how Mr. Hawkins’ life was so much more picture-perfect than Patrick’s. Finally done he happily shut his computer down and grabbed his coat, fuck telling Mr. Hawkins he was leaving, the asshole could just walk out and see an empty desk for all he cared- 

“Heading home now, Stump?” Patrick’s shoes squeaked on the tile floor as he stopped “I’ll accompany you down the elevator” 

“How generous of you, Mr. Hawkins,” Patrick said through gritted teeth.

Patrick made a point to stare out the glass wall of the elevator to the streets, the snow had started to pile more and people were bundled up hurrying along the sidewalks, Mr. Hawkins meanwhile was chatting away about getting a drink at some upscale bar and how he was going to be seeing inlaws for Christmas. 

“You did make those orders, didn’t you Stump?” Mr. Hawkins leaned too close to Patrick’s personal bubble, ignoring the obvious way Patrick’s body was tensing

“Of course sir, got every single one of them done. Wouldn’t want to disappoint the city” 

“Oh of course you did, you’ve never failed to do any job thrown your way” Mr. Hawkins let out a laugh that was humorless and moved away again. 

“I appreciate that you say that sir” Patrick mumbled, relieved when the doors opened and tried not running to the doors “have a good night” 

“Oh come on” _good god man fuck off already-_ “why not come with me? Treat on me, it’ll give you something to do” 

Patrick thought without actually doing the thinking then “My fiance’s waiting for me at home” 

Mr. Hawkins stopped walking alongside Patrick to gawk at him “your….fiance?” 

_You dug the grave, Stump_ “yes, Fiance, as in the person I’m going to marry” 

His boss was squinting at him “I wasn’t aware you were in a relationship, I’ll let you head home then” 

“Thanks” Patrick no longer cared about sounding nice, he just wanted to get the hell home. 

The bus luckily was waiting for him when he got to his stop, he plopped into a seat and quickly plugged into his phone as soon as the bus took off. There weren’t many people riding, a few teenagers in the back were shoving around, an older lady who was reading a book and 2 people with a grocers cart, Patrick glanced at the bus driver who looked as tired as he felt. Costello filled his ears and Patrick let his head fall back against the seat with a heavy sigh, he was screwed if Shane asked him to bring his “fiance” to the Christmas party or festival. Thing was though was that he _had_ a fiance, keyword was had and that keyword stung like hell as Patrick thought about it, his music wasn’t loud enough. 

The walk home didn’t improve his mood, his neighborhood was already dressing up for Christmas and the bright lights and cheery decorations were making him think of what should’ve been happening at his home; his yard was empty save for the snow and as he stepped inside his foyer and shut the door behind him it was almost painful how even his house was empty of Chrismas decorations. There wasn't anything stopping him of course, Patrick knew that as he flopped onto his couch and stared up at the ceiling, a Christmas tree could be thrown up and lights could be strung around the house so what was stopping him? Stupidly, it was because he wanted that dumb cliche married life on Christmas; hanging up the lights around the house and along the gutters, decorating a Christmas tree and maybe sharing dumb childhood stories. 

He did have that though, but being young never meant you were smart. Patrick rubbed at his eyes with an annoyed groan and got up to make dinner, maybe food would make him forget Dallon, leftover Thai sounded pretty good. Putting on _The Great British Bake Off_ Patrick pulled his laptop from its case on the coffee table and checked some emails, most of them were junk and a few were coupons for possible things to fuel his hobby (his mom hated fake flowers but even she eventually relented when the flower shop she worked at would close for winter and she’d have to find another job). Speaking of his mom he ought to call her, Christmas time was hard on both of them after his grandmother had passed and who knew how she was holding up at the moment. 

Looking through emails, eating leftovers, and working at a soul-sucking Job; yep, Patrick Stump age 24 could not be any more pathetic. 

He sighed in annoyance, setting his fork on the plate and grabbed his phone, T.V. wasn’t helping after all. The phone rang a few times before his mom picked up, in the background he could hear a show and people talking. 

“Hey mom” 

“ _Ricky, so good to hear from you”_ his mom sounded tired but cheerful enough “ _how are you honey?”_

_“_ I’m alright mom, just wanted to call and see how you’re doing” 

“ _Good good, Megan’s visiting with her family for Christmas. Do you want me to get her?”_

_Hell_ no, he loved his sister but after the nasty split with Dallon she was almost mother-henning and match-making for him, worst of all was that he hadn’t even told his mom about Dallon either.

“No it’s alright, I can call her later and catch up” Patrick winced a little and looked out his window at the still falling snow “glad to hear she’ll be there for Christmas, is Kevin coming?” 

“ _He said he’ll try but you know how busy your brother is”_ the sadness in his mom’s voice caused an ache in his heart “ _what about you? Will you be on schedule this time”_

Patrick smiled at the attempt of humor “yeah, Mr. Hawkins will have someone covering for me Christmas day. We’re helping the city this year with the festival this year” 

His mom snorted, even she knew how miserable it was “ _well if they had to pick anyone at least it’s someone with a reliable worker”_

“Mom” Patrick grumbled “I’m pretty sure we were a last-minute choice, the binder I had to work with was at least an encyclopedia's worth” 

His mother just laughed and started talking about running into an old friend that day and how she was too chipper in the cold weather, Patrick smiled feeling a little relieved that at least if he couldn’t make it this year then at least Megan was able to. 

“ _Oh honey will you be bringing Dallon with you? Megan mentioned him some time back, I had no idea you two were planning on getting married_ ” 

_And there was the knife to the heart._

She couldn’t see him but Patrick smiled tightly “he’s actually busy mom, it sucks I know but his job’s really important to him” 

“ _Oh darn, well you can bring him another time then. I want to meet your future husband”_ oh mom if only your son wasn’t a liar 

“He’d love to meet you mom, maybe another time though. I’ve got to get to work actually, got some new orders to fill out. Love you mom” 

“ _Love you too Ricky, don’t work too hard”_

He promised not to and hung up, dropping the phone to bury his face in his hands and scream, bless his mom’s heart but either she didn’t have any idea or she had an inkling but was ignoring it. Finishing up his left-overs Patrick headed to his bedroom and wrapped himself up in the 2 comforters he threw on, Stump-rrito needed to get a heater in his room. With that in mind on his list of things to put in his empty house, Patrick let sleep wash over him. 

For maybe 10 minutes. 

Something happened though he wasn’t sure what it was but whatever _it_ was made him open his eyes, staring blankly at the room...that wasn’t his. Patrick sat up quickly and looked around confused, what was going on? Covering him were dark furs that were impossibly warm and the bed frame was made of a white wood that almost glowed, this was nothing Patrick could afford. Hell the _room_ was nothing Patrick could afford; the walls were a soft blue that seemed to have a pearlescent sheen to them, the furniture was silver and made of the same pale wood as the bed, hanging around the ceiling were suspended star-like shapes but as Patrick stared he realized they weren't suspended at all-somehow they were _floating._

While his mind was trying to process this the furs moved to his left and Patrick squealed as he was pulled back down, arms octopus wrapping around him and pulling him back into someone’s chest. A blush spread across his face as the back of his neck was nuzzled and the mystery person mumbled something that sounded like “go to sleep” and “stay here”. He didn’t go to sleep with a stranger, he’s fairly certain of that, but as Patrick thinks on it he slowly began to melt into the bed and sighed contently; rolling over he wiggled around until he could press his head under the jaw of his bedmate, a hum tickled his temple and a soft kiss was pressed there. Patrick huffed and attempted to go back to sleep only for his bedmate’s hand to start tracing shapes along his back, he whined and shook his head trying to make them stop but then it _did_ feel nice and when his bedmate dragged their nails along his spine a pleasant shiver raced up it. 

The pleasantness continued as the hand slid up to cup the back of his neck and thumb used to tilt his head up; chilly lips were pressed to his, taking Patrick’s breath away for a moment before groaning and trying to melt into the other’s arms. Whoever this was knew how to kiss Patrick, making his head spin in all the right ways and breath coming out in gasps between kisses, cold body pressed to his a stark contrast of the warmth from the furs. Patrick huffed when the kiss was broken, he didn't bother opening his eyes though and returned to hiding his face in his bedmates neck, he felt them hum and return to petting along Patirkc’ back. A thought occurred to him then, why hadn’t he opened his eyes yet and who exactly was this? It felt natural, he didn’t feel afraid like he probably should have…

Except there was no bedmate when Patrick opened his eyes and there was no mystical looking room, instead he was staring at his empty plain beige wall with the outside light streaming in and causing small slat-shaped patterns. Oh, it...right, of course it had been a dream, no shit it had been a dream


	2. Chapter 2

“I really do appreciate this, especially on such short notice” 

Patrick hoped he gave a reassuring smile to the woman sitting in front of the desk “of course Ms. Johann, Fairytale Flowers is more than happy to help out. 

Polly Johann was one of the event coordinators in charge of the festival and unfortunately for Patrick, she had decided to pay a visit to the building instead of over a zoom call or the phone. The woman was sweeter than a sugar cookie and practically screamed Christmas in her snow-pixel-styled sweater and elf-green pants. She’d made an appointment yesterday without Shane telling Patrick so when she’d shown up out of the elevator he was completely confused but leave it to the Christmas Spirit that she was understanding and explained what her meeting was all about. 

“So you’re certain that the holly wreaths will all be done by the rehearsal at the end of the week? Christmas is in fifteen days” okay so maybe she really was Christmas obsessed. 

Patrick pulled up the order forms and tracking site, turning the monitor to show her “our partner company has them all ready and wrapped up, they’re currently in the process of being shipped as we speak and will definitely be here before Saturday. The flower angels are also in the process of being shipped if you’ll look right here, the reindeer are still being created and Santa’s sleigh ensemble will most likely be cutting it close but we _will_ have it done’ 

Polly’s face was practically glowing “oh _thank_ you, Mr. Stump! The festival this year will be so beautiful, I knew we made the right choice asking Fairytale flower for help, your reputation proceeds you!” 

_Can’t wait for that to blow up Shane’s ego_ Patrick thought and tried smiling politely “that’s very kind of you, we’re honored that you chose our company. Is there anything else you wanted to go over?” 

Her expression suddenly turned into a harsh frown that almost made Patrick jump, shit had he messed something up? “Well actually there is but this might be more...peculiar? You see this year we wanted to really amp up how family and couples might spend their Christmases, the mayor was hoping that perhaps someone from each company that we’ve been partnering with could have a couple be present while we go over the opening ceremony” 

That was oddly specific “I can bring that up with Mr. Hawkins, he and his wife are wonderful people” 

Polly looked overjoyed at that, either she couldn’t tell Patrick was being polite or she didn’t really care, regardless she thanked Patrick and promised to make sure he was credited along with the rest of the company. Once she was gone Patrick sighed and rested his face in his hands, if he was lucky there’d be no more surprise meetings and he could get back to checking shipping records and orders. Though as he tried to do that his mind ended up wandering again back to last night, this morning after he’d woken up from that annoyingly pleasant dream Patrick had slogged his way through breakfast and the bus ride to the Fairytale Flower building only for Shane to drop the meeting on him and that he was now excited to see Patrick and his fiance at the Christmas party and festival. 

Maybe if whoever had made out with him was real Patrick would be more than happy to, now he was wishing he’d bullshitted or just straight up told his boss to go to hell-okay no, the hell part was bad but at least tell him he’d rather just go home, it wasn’t like Shane didn’t already think Patrick was a loser. After all what loser spent all day daydreaming again about a make-out session in a dream- oh right, probably someone that literally had nothing to do at their job. With that in mind Patrick did allow his mind to wander, leaning against his hand he turned his gaze from the monitor to the snow outside, what _had_ that dream been anyway? Did he miss having another person to lay next to at night that badly that his brain had conjured some...kind of fantasy bedroom with someone to make out with him? Ugh, he felt like even more of a loser now, maybe he did need to start heading to bars again even for just a hook-up. 

Still, even for a dream...Patrick couldn’t help but think it was _too real_ to even be a lucid dream; the room, the bed, the other person, it felt like Patrick was-and god this felt too ludicrous to admit to himself- like he was supposed to be there instead of here in the city. 

Nope, that proved it, he _really_ needed to get over Dallon already. 

Except was it really that simple? Patrick sighed and closed his eyes to the world for a moment, no, it wasn’t as simple as just flipping a switch, he was 24 and already had been abandoned before the alter when it hadn’t even been his idea to get married; _Dallon_ had been the one with the ring and the one to get on one knee in front of all his high-class colleagues at the Thanksgiving party 2 years ago (and who the hell had Thanksgiving parties? Especially with chandeliers and champagne) only for October to roll around and that was the end of their little fairytale. Patrick smiled hatefully at the soft snowfall outside, just one word from mother dearest and it was “I’m sorry Patrick, it just wasn’t meant to be, we don’t fit right”. God but Dallon even had the audacity to _look_ like he was regretting those words as he said them, as if just dropping Patrick like a gum wrapper was actually the hardest thing to do-

Ringing made him jump and snapped him out of his self-loathing, Patrick began checking his monitor and the phone on the desk only to realize it was his personal one; shit, that wasn’t allowed during work courtesy of some rule he was pretty sure Shane made up but he recognized it to be his mother’s ringtone which started up all kinds of terrible images as he pulled it from his pocket to answer. 

“Mom, is everything alright?” 

_“Oh Patrick, sweetie I’m sorry I completely forgot you’re at work-”_

Relief flooded Patrick, she just forgot he was working so that meant nothing bad was happening “It’s fine mom, I finished all my work I just have to do my hours, is everything alright?” 

“ _You’re sure you won’t get in trouble? Oh, you’re already on the phone anyway, I wanted to apologize about last night. Megan told me about what happened, I’m so sorry Patrick”_

He felt his face heat up, great “it’s okay mom, I wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet and Megan didn’t have my permission to bring it up yet either. Look really it’s okay mom, we called off the engagement in October” 

_“With no good reason, honestly just because his mother didn’t like you? You deserve someone better than that, Ricky”_ his mother sounded heated, he had a feeling Megan might’ve exaggerated things

“Really mom it’s okay, hurts still sure but I’m not gonna dwell on it. It’s almost Christmas soon, I should be happy” he knew he didn’t sound convincing but really he couldn’t even if he wanted to 

His mother sighed and he heard a tapping sound, she probably was sitting at the island or table tapping her nails “ _well I called you for another reason and I’m not sure if you’ll like this. You know how Kevin and his girlfriend are going through a rough time right now? Well since Mom’s house is still in our name we still have it and Kevin was thinking about spending a few weeks there to calm down”_

Patrick couldn’t help the scoff “he rarely wanted to even see her, mom, why does he want to go to her house?” 

_“I know, I know, it seemed strange to me too but he and Clara want to take this break. What I’m trying to ask is can you stay at the house for a bit? Enough that the house’s heating and appliances will be back in shape”_

“Kevin wants me to play maid?” 

His mom clucked her tongue, not good “no _Patrick, I’m asking you to please be a nice boy and head out there. You can say no if your boss really has you that busy but as your mother, I’m asking you to be nice”_

He winced “no, I can bring my laptop with me, Mr. Hawkins would be fine if I headed out. I’ll, I’m fine with going with that mom” 

“ _Thank you, Ricky, call me when you get there alright? Especially if it gets to be too much”_

  
“I will, love you mom” 

Hanging up Patrick wished he’d stop talking with his foot in his mouth, if it was any other week involving work Shane wouldn't give two shits about him staying home but with this Christmas gig? Then again, it wouldn't really matter as long as the work got _done,_ guess he needed to pack his bags and toothbrush.

* * *

It felt like the day of the funeral as Patrick pulled into the driveway of his grandmother’s home, lucky for him someone had apparently been coming out and clearing it by request of his mother (whoever it was he’d need to find them and thank them the trouble of having to do it himself). The house looked to be in great condition on the outside, the closed curtains however reminded Patrick that he still had to see how many cobwebs and dust bunnies were living inside; the door opened with an ominous creak and Patrick stood in the entranceway for a few moments, taking in the darkness of the house. This place felt like a meat locker, Patrick could see his breath as he stepped in and shut the door behind him, toeing his sneakers off on the floor mat since his grandmother always hated it when mud or water was dragged into the house (yes he knew she was dead but the memory of her always scolding him and his siblings were still present).

The foyer was empty save for the decorated plate still on the wall, no cobwebs or even dust as Patrick felt along the top of the shelf on the wall, satisfied with that he set his suitcase on the floor heading further into the house. The living was another story; it was empty with no furniture and the top of the fireplace mantle was coated with dust so thick it could’ve been made into socks, the floor was dusty as well and ceratin corners of the ceiling were thick with cobwebs. Right, well his mom had said that there were a broom and mop in a closet somewhere in the house, there was a fridge in the kitchen but no food and the cupboards were bare as well. Patrick mentally berated himself for not bringing the air mattress like he’d planned, it was a good thing there was a dollar general in the nearby town so he’d be able to at least get food other than take-out and a way to sleep. 

Time passed and after the full sweep of the house and a trip to the nearby town Patrick was pretty sure his allergies were going to stay permanently, the dust and cobwebs had been setting off his nose all evening kicking up _more_ dust than the broom he was using. First floor swept up and cleaned, Patrick decided he’d tackle the upstairs bedrooms tomorrow and started setting up the air mattress. After ordering pizza and setting up the pillows and blankets he called his mom since he promised he would. 

“ _Can you leave Kevin the air mattress, I don’t think your brother plans on staying long”_

“Sure mom” Patrick hummed as he sat back against the wall, staring at the empty fireplace “it’s pretty surreal how empty it is here, I almost feel like I can blink and it’ll be Christmas again” 

“ _Don’t I know it”_ his mother sounded wistful and sad, it made Patrick regret mentioning it “ _you know Rick, I don’t think we actually took anything out of the attic. There might still be some Christmas decorations? I know there’s still some boxes of our own stuff in one of the upstairs rooms”_

Patrick frowned and sat up from the wall “our stuff? Like, stuff we’d leave here?” 

“ _We more or less lived at my mom’s place, Patrick. Not that you’d remember much honey, but yes there is some stuff of ours. Maybe check it out, go down memory lane-oh, dinner’s done! Have a good time there, honey, thank you again for cleaning it so Kevin doesn’t need to”_

“Of course, love you too mom” with that he hung up.

Right, he forgot that they did live here a lot, his dad ended up getting the house and Kevin was already in college while Megan was close to leaving High School herself so unfortunately for Patrick he was the subject of his dad trying to get full custody. It looked like the pizza wouldn't be there for about 15 more minutes, he could at least take _a_ box downstairs; the hallway felt as ominous as downstairs did as he stood at the top of the stairs, for just a moment he remembered that snowy night and almost expected to see the snow faerie down the hall. Patrick chuckled and shook his head, to have childish imagination again he thought wistfully. He guessed that the first door on the left was where the boxes were, his mom usually slept there since the door next to it was his grandmother’s room while he stayed in the door right at the end of the hall (if he remembered right it was because of the shape of the window in that room). 

The door groaned and screeched against the floor as Patrick opened it, he winced peeking into the room to spot 4 boxes stacked against a wall while the rest of the room was empty. Stepping in it felt like he’d been dowsed in ice water suddenly, Patrick gasped and shivered looking around to see if maybe there was a vent pumping in cold air, he spotted one near the ceiling but was that really where all that cold air was coming from? Actually, wait, Patrick squinted at the open closet where the vent was and noticed something on the top shelf...it looked like a shoebox, did his mom know about? He dismissed it and walked over to the boxes against the wall, usually bigger boxes meant more stuff right? And admittedly going down memory lane might give him something to do until pizza arrived and he could call someone about getting internet working here again. 

All the boxes had names scribbled on them, 2 of them said _MOM’S STUFF_ which probably meant grandma and the other 2 had _Patricia_ written in neat handwriting and the other was his mom’s name again and his messy scrawled _PATROCK._ He giggled a little remembering that was his favorite name to put in video games, Patrick decided to take that one when he heard heavy thuds at the front door downstairs; shit, was the pizza already there? There was no way 15 minutes already passed-oh forget, he’d rather eat now than not. The guy seemed genuinely surprised that someone was there, commenting that he thought the lady who lived there died and after Patrick said “yeah, my grandma” the guy awkwardly handed him the pizza and almost slipped hurrying back to his car. 

“Safe driving” Patrick mumbled, letting the door shut with a louder thud than intending and flinched as something upstairs fell “oh shit, hope it wasn’t breakable” 

It didn’t occur to him how coincidental that the source was in the guest bedroom, or that the source turned out to have been that shoebox falling off the shelf; what _did_ strike him as odd was that it hadn’t opened when it fell, it had just...fallen. Frowning Patrick walked over and picked it up, on top of the lid in bright orange marker was written _Patrick's secret stuff!_ Huh, he didn’t remember this box at all, guess this was his time machine ticket. Back downstairs Patrick had a plate of steaming pizza and his phone playing a Spotify playlist, wrapped up in blankets the first thing he saw when he opened the box made his heart wiggle with nostalgia. Somehow the fur was still snow white and the fake plastic jeweled eyes twinkled in the old bulb light, Patrick picked up the reindeer as if it was made of glass and let out a small laugh. 

“Holy shit, I thought I lost you a long time ago” he squished Holly’s foot giggling at how soft the plushie still was. 

With the divorce happening, Holly had been Patrick’s best friend of sorts, after they’d finally gotten an apartment he remembered with embarrassment having a meltdown at the fact they couldn’t find his stuffed reindeer. It’d taken 2 months before he finally accepted that she was lost for good and moved on with his 10-year-old life, why hadn’t his grandmother ever mentioned that Holly was still at her place? Well that was a question forever unanswered, setting Holly aside Patrick took a bite of his pizza and continued down memory lane; old drawings, marbles and rocks, _Game Boy_ cartridges that looked busted to hell and several cards either birthday or Christmas. Patrick was almost out of pizza and had finished reading through Christmas cards that he decided to finish looking through the box tomorrow, for a shoe-box it surprisingly held a lot of things. 

He felt silly as he hugged Holly close to him snuggling under the comforter set, Patrick smiled at the reindeer before shutting his eyes, the contents of the shoebox laying in a pile by the wall and the shoebox itself closed laying nearby. 

*

The snowfall outside looked like stars falling down, under his arms the banister of the balcony felt like it was burning his skin but he’d gotten used to the frigidness of ice, Patrick closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh as another wave of the burn washed over him. The fur coat was too big on him, too bulky and too...well too much, he knew it was for his safety since he wasn’t made for this land but would it kill someone to get him a fitted coat? Opening his eyes again Patrick cast his gaze down to the courtyard where the reindeer were being led back into their barn, a small smile graced his lips as he noticed one of the larger ones purposefully stopping every time she neared the barn’s door. There was definitely some smugness in knowing that he was the only one that Holly listened to, speaking of the reindeer decided she wanted to stay out a little longer and pulled away enough that the reigns on her snapped, allowing her to race away from the group. 

Patrick laughed only to squeak as heavy white furs were dropped over his head, he pushed the hood up huffing as arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. 

“What do you think you‘re doing out here without a coat, I swear you’re trying to freeze” a sleep gruffed voice mumbled against the back of his neck “what’s your beast up to now” 

“She’s not a beast, she just likes staying out longer” Patrick rolled his eyes and wiggled around until he could at least slip his own arms under the cloak and lay his hands over the other’s “you’re incredibly mean to her” 

There was a huff and a cold kiss pressed to Patrick’s ear “you're both incredibly stubborn, she probably learned that from you as a child” 

“So I’m a bad influence?” Patrick giggled at another kiss, feeling less annoyed “I’m not wearing my coat because it’s too bulky, get me one that fits and I might wear it. Your cloak is cozy though, I think I’ll keep it” 

“Like hell you will” 

Patrick was turned around and given a quick kiss, when they pulled away Patrick stared into gold eyes filled with love. 

And then there was something scratching on wood. 

Patrick’s eyes snapped open, the ghost feeling of the kiss still on his lips and the cold on his arms; his blanket was strewn around him and the pillow had been knocked to the floor, luckily though after turning the heat on for the night the house now at least didn’t feel like an ice block. He sat up and rubbed his face, reaching around to find his glasses and slipping them on, ah there was Holly, she’d somehow ended up by the shoe box. Patrick picked her back up and set her on the mattress, he needed to get dressed and head to town for breakfast at a diner he saw. As he came back from the bathroom dressed as warm as he could he paused looking back at the air mattress, Holly sat looking towards the fireplace with empty eyes, Patrick popped up the collar on his jacket thinking about how Holly had been a live reindeer in his dream a few moments ago. A blush spread across his face and he shook his head, he just needed to get breakfast and check on the orders for the Christmas festival. 

* * *

The diner was thankfully not playing any Christmas music, red and silver tinsel was hung along the walls and a few Christmas figurines were at the counter but otherwise country music was pumping through a radio with maybe 3 other people there besides the cook and waitress. Patrick didn’t mind the quiet though, it gave him time to think while he ate eggs and toast; it had to be because he’d remembered that silly dream from his childhood that he’d been having these new strange ones, the romance especially had to do with thinking about Dallon so much too. As Patrick munched on a piece of toast his cheeks burned a little thinking about those eyes he saw, even when he’d been with Dallon he’d never looked at Patrick with that much love before- _no,_ no, that just proved Patrick’s point, it was because he wanted a partner to love him that he was having these dreams. 

“More coffee?” the waitress looked as tired as he felt

“Yes please” he thanked her as his cup was refilled “hey um, is there any place around here I can get some internet fixed?” 

She hummed in thought and looked out the windows for a few moments before nodding, she set the coffee down and pulled out her notepad scribbling something down, there was an address on the paper as she handed it to Patrick. 

“If you already have something in the house they should be able to just work from there, you new here? I don’t think I've ever seen you around” she seemed to scrutinize Patrick, then, yikes, should he be worried? 

“Sort of, I’m cleaning up my grandma’s house for my brother to come live in for a bit” 

She tilted her head a little “huh, do you mean Miss Pat’s old place? I wondered who was living there, Johnny said that someone was there last night. If you need anyone to help you shovel I could give you another number?” 

“My grandma was pretty well known then huh? Thanks but it’s alright, I can manage” he wasn’t sure how he felt about being a spectacle now but at least he could get internet working. 

The town was pretty small; a dollar general, the diner, a few shops here and there, and the weird internet/cable store Patrick was heading to. It felt awkward having to agree to have someone be in his house while he wasn’t there but he wanted to get groceries and there wasn’t anything to steal in the first place, unlike the diner Christmas carols were blasting through the dollar general to his annoyance but food shopping was fast since he was only feeding one. As he passed through a random aisle to get to the checkouts he paused seeing a children’s book, the cover was a faerie Christmas themed and it reminded him for a moment of his own snow faerie. Where was the story of Winter now that he thought about it, in those boxes in the guest room? Shit, he needed to clean out the second floor still, all thoughts of the storybook was quickly forgotten as he speed-walked to the registers.

He wasn’t surprised that the cable guy was still at his house although it was jarring when he came inside to see a guy standing in the living room, Patrick just gave him a curt nod and headed to the kitchen to put groceries away. This time Patrick had bought a scarf to throw over his face while he swept, armed with the broom and mop he set to working on the second floor. It was a lot quicker than the first floor this time and somehow less dust, none of the boxes were too heavy so they were a cinch to bring downstairs, around noon the cable guy had set up the internet and Patrick was making himself lunch. 

“You got any beer?” Patrick tried not wrinkling his nose as he looked up from the bacon “don’t worry, I’m not gonna drink and drive” 

“No, I only bought necessities” 

The cable guy snorted as if the thought of no beer was preposterous “well you got water running right?” 

“Yeah...hang on” Patrick grabbed a styrofoam cup from the cupboard and handed it to him “just toss it in the bag right there” 

“Thanks” the guy obnoxiously drank before tossing the cup but still wasn’t leaving “so how come you’re here?” 

Patrick grit his teeth as he shut off the stove and put the bacon on a plate “because it’s mine, it's in our family” 

“O-o-o-o-oh, you must be Miss Pat’s grandkid then, right? Well you’re all good then, the wi-fi’s up. If you had a T.V. I could get that running too” he could already hear the man trying to get him to buy one 

“No thanks, the offer’s very appreciated. Drive safely” Patrick emphasized the last part hoping the guy would get the hint. 

He did with an eye roll, wishing Patrick a sarcastic happy holidays before finally leaving and allowing Patrick to get to his BLT. The mattress doubled as a seat as he set the plate on a box, maybe he did have something valuable after all as he pulled his laptop case out from one of his suitcases, he had to do work after all and his phone wouldn't’ be able to let him multi-task. Everything was made now and in the process of being shipped, different decorations had finally arrived at their destination but he’d have to check his email to see any confirmation and there was the chance that Polly or someone else had requested new ones. No new emails so far, nothing from Shane or the event organizers, satisfied Patrick closed the tabs and went to Youtube to play some concerts while he went down memory lane again; he’d moved his grandmother’s things to where she’d lived and brought down the other two, the shoebox was still left to go through but since that was so small Patrick decided to save it for later. 

His mother’s box was just decorations wrapped in brown paper, Patrick didn’t dare open them for fear of ripping up the wrapping so he scooted that box aside and made a mental note to bring that to her. The box with both of their names-well, names- on it contained leftovers clothes and a decorative fuzzy teddy bear, Patrick frowned and started to most of what he took out back in but stopped seeing the corner of something peeking out from under a sweater, a book? Maybe a photo album, he reached in and pulled it out without looking then set it aside to put the clothes back in the box. Once he scooted that to sit beside his mother’s box he finally picked up the book and froze, this whole week was just full of coincidences wasn’t it? 

A fairytale cover looked up at him; a castle in the background with snow falling with faux glitter on it, a silver sleigh was in the main focus along with several white reindeer with reigns, the letters stating the name of the story looked like thin wispy lines as if attempting to look like clouds: _Winter’s broken heart._ Patrick brush his fingers over the cover with reverence, he could still hear his grandmother now telling him the story, him asking how she got it over and over despite always getting the same vague answer of “it was passed down”; the shoebox could wait, Patrick wanted to read this again. He didn’t get to the book right away though, instead, he decided to put the two boxes in his car now so he didn’t end up forgetting them. There was a light snowfall as he made the trek to his car, he’d never noticed how far the driveway was now but then he hadn’t shown up to the house in the dark night with the snowfall starting to turn a little heavier. 

The second trip Patrick decided to put Holly in the car too, instead of putting her in the box though he just plopped her down on the box and headed outside; he was halfway to the car then when he heard it, the wind suddenly sounding almost like that of a blizzard with the way it was howling, Patrick’s skin began to crawl at that notion and he ignored the snow being kicked into his boots as he ran to the car. He’d only just put the box in and shut the door when the wind quite literally slammed him into the side of it, crying out in pain and noticing in the distance what looked like a wall of white. Survival instincts kicked in and Patrick scrambled to get back to the house, what the whole world turned into the _Twilight Zone_ now? He slammed the door shut sliding down against it once he was inside, gasping and trying to control a possible asthma attack, he hadn’t even brought his inhaler like a smart adult. Outside the wind picked up and when Patrick peeked through the window there was an actual blizzard happening, shit he’d really lucked out missing that hadn’t he? 

He hadn’t thought about a blizzard, the weather hadn’t even said there’d be heavy snow this week, Patrick let out a weak sigh and just prayed his heat would be enough to keep him from being a Stumpcicle. After a hot bath Patrick dressed in a sweater and some long-underwear as extra warmth against the possibility of no heating, he checked his email again to make sure nothing new came in and snuggled under the comforter. Sleep didn’t come easy to him though, he stared into the darkness listening to the wind outside howling and wishing he hadn’t put Holly in the car. Silly as it was having something soft to hug would’ve made him feel better...Patrick frowned and furrowed his brow, she did end up in the car right? He’d put the box in the back seat and rushed back to the house but...he’d also ran to the car and hadn’t put her _in_ the box. Shit, Patrick sat up and looked towards the foyer, his childhood stuffed reindeer was probably laying somewhere in the snow or had been blown away by the wind. 

For a crazed second, he considered running outside and trying to find her, the tree by the house hitting the roof snapped him out of that and made him accept with slight misery that she was probably gone and he’d just have to accept it. Laying back down Patrick hoped for another romantic dream, maybe something warm instead of whatever snowy land his dream-self kept living in, maybe those warm eyes again. He only had them closed for just a second before opening them again to sunlight streaming in through the windows, what a shit sleep- 

What was that? 

Patrick shot up straight looking around the house, vision blurred with lack of glasses but he heard it again, a scraping sound. Stumbling to stand up and kicking the blankets off him Patrick snatched his glasses up and cautiously made his way to the front of the house, the tree couldn't have been making that scraping sound, was someone trying to break in? What was there to even steal, anyone that could see his car should know that he didn’t make enough money that meant there was something valuable in the house. Tugging his boots on Patrick had to use some force to get the door to open, outside was a twinkling wonderland of white snow almost hurting his eyes, wasn’t that actually a thing in the arctic too? The sound had stopped now making him wonder if he’d been half-awake, maybe he’d only been hearing things-

_Skrrreeeek, skreeeeeek, skrreeeek._

Ignoring the possibility of snapping his neck Patrick hurried down the snow-covered steps slipping here and there before grabbing the stair railing to look at the front of the house, where snow should’ve been it looked like someone had dragged a stick along in funky patterns allowing the red paint underneath to show. The scratching noise was still happening but now it sounded more distant, the intruder was probably messing with his grandmother’s shed now. More annoyed than scared now Patrick stomped over to look around the side of the house only to free, gripping the corner and ignoring the burning of the cold on his hands. 

Scratching its horns against the old shed was a reindeer, with pure white fur and when it looked up almost sapphire blue eyes. 


	3. Chapter 3

“No” Patrick said and turned around, walking briskly back to the house. 

No, nope, nuh-uh, this was-a fucking  _ reindeer  _ was too much now; the dreams, the fact his mom had asked him to come out here to his grandmother’s house, finding the book, finding the stuffie fo Holly- _ Holly.  _ That made Patrick stop, foot raised to step on the first step as he slowly looked back over to the side of the house where the reindeer now stood looking at him; a reindeer that looked exactly like his stuffed animal and now that Patrick thought on it looked like the reindeer from the storybook. It huffed and shook its head, ears wiggling before taking a few steps towards Patrick, the man tensed and gripped the railing tighter, was it going to charge him? It didn’t appear to, it just looked like it was...well just staring at him. 

So Patrick went out on a limb “H...Holly?” 

The reindeer perked up and wiggled their ears again, the small man’s heart jumped to his throat as the reindeer bound over and stopped a few feet from him making some kind of noise that he hoped was good. Patrick’s mind was struggling now, the workers in the factory were desperately trying to kill the fires starting from the computers and mechanics were trying to get the gears whirling again, _ what was happening to him?  _ Holly the reindeer huffed and walked closer until Patrick found himself staring into her eyes, reindeer breath making him wrinkle his nose. Okay….okay...so his stuffed animal was...alive now? No! Patrick furiously shook his head making Holly back away in confusion,  _ no  _ his stuffed animal was not alive! Somehow this reindeer had to have escaped or something from somewhere, a zoo maybe. 

With this sane notion he hurries back inside not thinking that maybe the reindeer will run away while he calls animal control, there’s a chance it will and he’ll be called insane or they’ll think he’s playing a shitty prank, either way he needs to feel some kind of sanity at the moment. As if the pile of coincidences couldn’t stop piling up he heard his phone ringing, great who was calling him now? His mom’s name lit up the screen, sure, she was human contact and would work. 

“ _ Patrick, I’m so glad you picked up, are you alright? I heard about the freak snowstorm last night”  _

  
“Yea, I’m alright” he glanced over his shoulder at the foyer, would the reindeer try and get in? “Hey mom, so um, I’m not sure how to explain this but there’s a reindeer in the front yard”

Patricia laughed- _ laughed- _ to Patrick’s confusion “ _ of course there is, Ricky, it’s almost Christmas after all. Did someone prank you?”  _

Right, of course, a reasonable person would think it’s a decoration “No mom-I mean it’s a living breathing reindeer, like an actual one” 

“ _ Oh dear, really? I didn’t know you could own those”  _ how could she sound so casual about this? 

“I’m not...I don’t know if it’s a pet or what mom” Patrick debated on mentioning that it looked exactly like Holly, she’d definitely think it was a joke then “I uh...it seems very friendly, maybe you’re right and it’s a pet” 

“ _ I hope whoever owns them finds them, you should call someone Patrick. You’re alright otherwise though?”  _

Patrick hoped his sigh wasn’t annoyed “yeah I’m alright mom, the blizzard shook me up but I’m okay. It was terrifying actually, I was putting some of our old stuff in my car and I saw it coming towards me like a sandstorm” 

His mom laughed but it sounded off “ _ oh goodness, I do remember seeing something like that before. It was actually at your grandma’s house, the same night after you told me that silly story about the snow faerie talking to you”  _

His blood turned to ice “snow….here...really?” 

“ _ Oh yes, I was loading up some Christmas presents your grandma had given us when I saw the storm, the wind was  _ awful  _ Patrick I thought we were going to be frozen solid. Mom let us stay an extra night, she didn’t want us driving in the blizzard. Funny enough when I put you to bed actually there was this thing on the floor, I thought you might’ve broken something off a Christmas decoration but even mom didn’t recognize it”  _

“Where’d you put it mom?” a strange feeling was bubbling in Patrick’s heart, rolling around in his gut and making the air in his lungs cold “was it-did it look like a red gemstone?” 

“ _ I think so yes, it was definitely red but it looked like a shiny crystal chunk or something. I put it in a little bag and I believe I stuck it in a shoebox. Is everything alright honey? You really sound frantic”  _

Her concern was appreciated but Patrick’s mind had finally unstuck and was running too fast now. 

“Totally, I just think the reindeer might run off, I should get to calling someone. Love you mom, I’ll see you Christmas eve” 

He hung up before she could say anything else, Patrick would feel guilty later but he ignored that as he tossed his phone aside and darted towards the shoebox upending everything onto the floor. There was a little bag, a velvet red drawstring bag perfect for a pocket watch, with shaking hands Patrick reached over and picked it up like it would shatter in his hands. There was something heavy inside, something that felt like a stone but with more edges, with trembling fingers he pulled the bag open and dropped the content into his open palm; a red glistening gemstone, the size of a large hail ball and glittering like a-

“Diamond” Patrick whispered. 

Light exploded from his palm, Patrick cried out and dropped the diamond to shield his eyes, from bright flaming red to a sapphire blue the light seemed to swallow the whole room until it died out like a flame on a candle. He blinked a few times to get the spots out of his eyes before looking down where the diamond had fallen, now it resembled the same snowy color it had when he’d first found it. Hesitantly he picked it up and turned it around in his hand, what had just happened? The word magic popped into his head, a shaky smile spread across Patrick’s face at that thought but really...there were too many coincidences going on for it to  _ just  _ be a coincidence. 

A knock at the door took him out of this thoughts, honestly if the fucking reindeer could knock at this point he wouldn’t be surprised. Opening the door though the reindeer was not the one knocking, instead there was a man with incredibly curly hair wrapped up in a fur coat. 

“Oh wow, you still have a baby face” the guy said it so nonchalantly it was as if he’d known Patrick forever. 

Said man just stared blankly for a few seconds, why was this man so familiar? Wait…

“Joe?” 

The snow faerie frowned “yeah? Was there any question to that?” 

“I thought you were a dream” Patrick almost laughed at the shocked look on the other’s face.

“You...right, right yeah okay that...makes sense...can I come in? Your reindeer’s chilling out in the shed right now, I hope that’s okay that I put her there she just looked really miserable” Joe looked like he needed to sit down more than Patrick. 

Patrick stepped aside and motioned for him to come in “sure, wipe your feet please” 

*

“But you didn’t even think there was a chance it was all real?” Joe was sitting on the kitchen counter, a mug of coffee in his hands frowning “I mean no offense I get it, you mortals sometimes think things are dreams but...I’m gonna be honest Patrick I kind of feel hurt” 

Patrick shrugged and took a sip from his own drink “I’m sorry but magic doesn’t really-well no obviously it exists cause you’re here but...when we’re kids as we grow up adults tell us magic isn’t real” 

Joe huffed, now that he’d taken his coat off Patrick could sometimes see something shimmery behind him “obviously. Didn’t you see the diamond though? You had to have” 

“My mom told me it fell off my bed, I tried looking for it when I woke up but I remember thinking it was just a crazy dream” said diamond was sitting beside Patrick “why’re you here though, Joe? It’s been seventeen years and if I remember right the whole...story is that someone’s supposed to find the diamond and marry Winter. Just because of some silly promise I made as a kid exists still someone else has to have found the diamond right?” 

Joe’s cold look make his skin crawl “there is only  _ one  _ person who can marry Winter, we send out all kinds of diamonds but after you found that diamond all those years ago Patrick we haven’t sent any since. Magic takes promises and oaths seriously, the reason I’m here is because you found the diamond again and you’re an adult now. So, you’re old enough to marry Winter” 

“Oh” wait “whoa whoa hang on” 

Patrick set his mug down and moved away from the counter, Joe frowned and followed him to the living room where he was starting to pace.

“I-no no, Joe I can’t marry Winter anymore I have a life here now. I have-I have to take care of orders for a festival coming up Christmas day and-and my mom needs me to be here! My brother’s coming here because he’s having relationship issues and I’m keeping the house warm until he does” as Patrick rambled he wondered if any of this would mean something to Joe. 

The man looked unimpressed “full offense this time Patrick but your life? Is pretty miserable, your job is miserable as hell and you hate your boss which the dude seems like a prick so I get that and you’re still hurting over your finance” 

Patrick turned and looked at Joe with acid, the snow faerie took a step back “how do you know anything about me and no I am over Dallon” 

“Okay okay, sorry” joe held his hands up in defense “magic’s the answer again, I looked just now at how your life’s gone and for the most part it’s been okay but you forcing yourself into that job when you can manage on your own is sad” 

Patrick’s jaw started to hurt from gritting his teeth “Dallon said I should join the company because it was a step closer to having my own floral company” 

Joe dropped his hands frowning “I mean...maybe a way for you to see how marketing is but I’m sure you could’ve taken classes for that. Anyway if work is what you’re worried about I’m not kidding the forces of magic  _ will  _ take care of everything, and I’m sure you could come back to the house for a bit and just inconspicuously leave” 

“ _ Magic- _ do you hear yourself?” Patrick stared at Joe slackjawed, was this man serious? “I can’t just drop my life because you guys couldn’t find someone else to marry Winter-what if he doesn’t even want me?”

The snow faerie sighed heavily and rubbed at his face, he flopped down on the air mattress and patted beside him. Patrick sat down but kept some distance between them, Joe rolled his eyes and turned around to face him sitting criss-cross-applesauce. 

“Okay look, I’m not asking you to completely drop your life. I know that’s how it sounds and I’m not explaining this as well as I can but like, the best way I can say  _ this  _ is that Winter knows that we found his soulmate once upon a time and he’s still waiting for you” 

“He’s waiting for me?” that genuinely caught Patrick off guard, the man narrowed his eyes at Joe skeptically “the story said that he didn't’ want anything to do with anyone that tried to melt his heart” 

“And he...sort of still doesn’t-okay look it’s complicated. He doesn’t want anything to do with anyone like you said but that’s because ‘anyone’ he knew wasn’t his soulmate-”

Patrick held his hand up cutting Joe off “what do you mean ‘soulmate’ exactly? Are we talking like...literal definition or dramatic here” 

Joe huffed rolling his eyes “dude I just said you’re the only one who’s ever found the diamond, you are  _ his soulmate.  _ All those kingdoms and villages and travelers weren't you Patrick, we all knew his soulmate would appear at some time but we didn’t expect a child version of them to find the diamond. That’s why when you made your promise- (Joe tapped Patrick’s forehead for some reason) the magic was satisfied because it knew that you’d keep it”

He took those words and carefully thought them over then; so he was literally meant to be Winter’s husband, since before he was born even and that sounded like the most cheesy romantic thing to say. Patrick remembered being earnest and serious when he made that promise as a child, hadn’t cared when Joe told him to be careful about making wishes like that, he’d been determined because child him had wanted Winter to be happy. Maybe Joe saw his hesitation because he reached over and patted Patrick’s shoulder 

“How about you sleep on it? I can disappear, chill out in the snow for a bit” 

Patrick looked at him like he’d grown 2 heads “what? You can just...melt in the snow?” 

“Not melt but I can just...be snow” Joe shrugged and stood up, stretching and popping some joints “I could take Holly around the block too, I’m not really supposed to be using this much magic but since it’s for a good reason I won’t get in too much trouble. I can turn invisible and we can walk around without people seeing us” 

“Yeah um….a guy walking around in fur with a white reindeer would definitely be a spectacle” Patrick had terrible visions then of people hitting something invisible and Holly being dead “how about you not do that though, I mean I can find whatever food reindeer can eat in town and you can just...chill here?” 

Joe looked surprised for a moment at the suggestion then shrugged, asking if Patrick had more coffee. Right, so as Patrick hopped onto his laptop to check and if any orders had arrived yet there was a snow faerie chilling in his kitchen drinking coffee while outside in his grandmother’s shed there was his childhood stuffed-animal-now-living reindeer. Well according to the internet the food Patrick would need probably wasn’t in stores, hopefully, a magic stuffed animal reindeer didn't’ apply to the normal laws of nature and he could just give her apples and carrots. After another quick trip to get Holly’s food and also chicken tenders for dinner Patrick returned home to find Joe watching youtube on his laptop, part of him bristled a little but he just let it be and headed to the kitchen to chop up Holly’s lunch. 

“What are you doing?” Joe peeked his head into the kitchen and looked curiously at the cheap board of wood Patrick had bought for a cutting board “making stew?”

“Chicken tenders are for dinner tonight actually, this is Holly’s lunch” Patrick finished cutting up the carrots and dumped them into the pot he’d also bought where the chopped up apples lay “I googled reindeer food and none of the stores had the usual, I read that they can eat carrots and apples and I figured that since she’s magic the rules of a normal reindeer don’t apply to her” 

Joe hummed and walked over, surveying the pot “she’ll like it I’m sure, when-if you wanna go to the castle I can show you the food we feed them” 

Patrick paused with the knife over an unsuspecting apple “is there...was I meant to get her or was this a fluke?”

“To be honest? I think your grandmother believed in that story she read you. After you showed me the book I went back home and asked Andy-he’s all kinds of smart and usually has some kind of knowledge on this stuff, I think it has to do with him being like...a keeper of the books deal, anyway I asked him about it and he said that some mortals made storybooks and passed them around but there’s only about a hundred of those books in existence so there’s a chance your grandmother was just lucky and had a family that believed in the fairy tale” 

“That sounds too coincidental. Do you think my grandmother got me a magic reindeer on purpose?” 

“Hell no” Joe laughed at Patrick’s baffled look “I think the magic made Holly come to life because that way there’d be something at the castle familiar to you. Speaking of the castle I’m just going to be upfront with you, Pete’s kinda-” 

“His name’s Pete?” 

Joe huffed and waved his hand in a ‘shush’ motion “Pete’s heart is fucked, I know you read why but that was pretty much dumbing it down. Pete’s Winter but that doesn’t mean he’s cold, Spring however it a total prick and while they were still baby seasons pretty much made Pete think he could never have a good life. When Spring married Summer shit really did hit the fan, it was just the driving point for Pete that he couldn’t ever be in love. So I’m giving you a heads up that Pete might be really shitty to you in the beginning but deep down he knows you’re his soulmate, I think he's gonna try and test your patience though to see if you’ll stick around or not” 

Patrick stared down at the apple now, the reflection of it in the knife looking blurry “if marrying me makes him miserable then I’d rather we don’t at all. If...if he actually wants to do this then I’ll go but...like you said I’m going to sleep on it” 

“Cool” Joe thankfully let the conversation slide and headed back to watching dumb dog videos. 

Holly seemed excited to see Patrick again, when the door opened she bounded over terrifying Patrick as he imagined her horns stabbing him but stopped a few feet away waiting for him to set the pot down. While she ate Patrick hesitantly pet along her head finding it wasn’t so scary after all and left her to eat her lunch, he was hungry himself and there was leftover bacon from last night. Joe accepted the BLT with a thanks and continued watching the french bulldog on-screen waddling away with a ball, Patrick decided to join him in his “silly dog video adventure”. 

“If he was really against the two of you, he wouldn't have allowed me to come here” Joe says after they’ve gone through their 5th compilation of dogs. 

Patrick frowned “so then why is he going to give me shit?” 

Joe shrugged “like I said to test you, honestly though if he’s a dick then you can just say the word and I’ll take you back home” 

Well there was that assurance at least. Before Patrick went to bed he took one of his blankets out to the shed for Holly to lay on, she chewed on his coat until he nudged her away and curled up on the blankets. Joe said he didn't need to sleep and that he’d “be around”, Patrick didn't bother asking what that meant and just slipped under the comforter, maybe Joe had a hand in him falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

*

_ He was dreaming, this time he really knew that, but he wasn’t at the icy castle or in the cozy bedroom; instead Patrick was sitting in an empty throne room where, the ceiling impossibly high and a long blue carpet draped over the steps and down to the floor leading out towards tall doors. The throne was empty, made of ice and jagged shapes but glistening like crystals, Patrick sat on the carpet in front of it picking at the fur feeling strange sense of...loneliness? Emptiness? One of the two, or maybe more. While debating on his emotions boots come into his vision, a few inches from where his hand was pressing shapes into the carpet.  _

_ “Did you give me all those nice dreams or was that ‘the magic’ or whatever” Patrick asked the carpet.  _

_ He heard a heavy sigh and watched the boots disappear, the cloak brushing against him as Winter walked around to stand behind him; Patrick blinked as the man pulled him back to lean into his chest, wrapping his cloak around the two of them and squeezing Patrick’s hips slightly with the legs on either side of him.  _

_ “They were...unexpected desires of mine” Winter mumbled, his chin hooked over Patrick’s shoulder and it was annoying how pleasant the rumble was “love would get in the way of my duties, it seems though this wretched heart of mine has desires still”  _

_ Patrick went stiff and tried to rise but barely even moved a muscle before there were arms tight around his waist holding him back, a genuine animalistic growl sounding in his ear.  _

_ “If you don’t want me just tell me now, I’m not dropping my life for some asshole that doesn’t even want to try” Patrick glared at the glittering walls, how could such a beautiful place have such a dick living inside?  _

_ To his embarrassment he gasped choking on a small whine as canines bit and pulled on his ear, a shiver running down his neck as the skin behind it was licked. Talk about mixed fucking signals, Patrick had no idea what Winter’s deal was but when he bit down again the smaller man felt his eyes roll back a little. Another possessive growl and Patrick was pretty sure he was being given a hickey, teeth dragging over his neck borderlining painful.  _

_ “I don’t know what I want, this wretched heart of mine aches,” a hand slid up to where Patrick’s heart was, he whimpered weakly when fingers dug into his chest “every time I think of you it feels like I’m being carved out”  _

_ Patrick frowned and wriggled, the limbs still holding him tight “that sounds like hell, why would you want me if it hurts to think about me”  _

_ A wry laugh was his answer “it hurts more that you’re not here, that I can’t hold you without speaking to you in dreams. You make the aching less…”  _

_ This just felt like riddles, Patrick turned his head to say that only for cold lips to be pressed over his. The familiarity of it made him shut his eyes, soft and cold moving against his own warmer ones in contrast when he pulled away his breath caught seeing those golden-brown eyes again. There was pain and loneliness in them, an ache started in Patrick’s chest as he opened his mouth to say Winter’s name.  _

__

And then like all the other dreams he infuriatingly woke up alone in bed.

* * *

“Everything’s going to be alright? I mean...no one’s going to break into the house?” 

Joe was sitting on the front steps scratching behind Holly’s ear, earlier this morning after Patrick’s dream-not-dream conversation with Winter (or should he call him Pete? They were after all supposed to be married) he’d woken Joe up from where he’d been sleeping in the kitchen-which rose some questions in of itself- and said he’d made his choice. (also not mentioning the dreams, he wasn’t sure if what Pete was doing or what his heart was doing was allowed or if there some victorian love thing going on). Now they were outside after Patrick had hidden his laptop and locked up the house, Joe barely awake and Holly looking livelier than both humans. 

“Nope, your house is one hundred percent safe, I swear. Are you ready to go now? Like, I don’t mean to rush you but we really should get you there so you can meet everyone. Well kind of everyone” Joe stood up and stretched, the coat had turned white overnight making him a stark contrast against the door “you wanna sit on Holly?” 

“What?” were they going to like...fly there Santa style? 

Joe patted her back smiling like he knew what Patrick was thinking “it’ll be more comfortable for you probably, we’re going to walk but any time mortals have walked the path they usually say their legs feel weird” 

“Oh...we’re...walking, right, okay” 

Awkwardly he walked over to Holly and just stared at her, did he grab her fur and hoist himself up? He wasn’t exactly body fit for that, what if he hurt her trying to climb on? There wasn’t long to think on that as Joe picked him up making Patrick squeal and plopping him down. How had he done that, he looked like a twig practically! Patrick just scowled a little at Joe’s smug face and grabbed handfuls of fur to hold on. The snow faerie patted Holly’s butt and she started walking, Patrick looked back at the house until they were at the road and the structure was a distant dot, it had to be the anxiety of newness that was making him contemplate stopping; when his neck hurt from staring at a pixel on the horizon he finally faced forward to take a double-take, what the  _ hell  _ happened while he wasn’t looking forward? The road he’d expected was replaced by a dirt path lined with bushes and tall pine trees surrounding both sides, Joe was looking at him when Patrick turned to ask him how they were in a forest now, he looked away as if he hadn’t met the human’s eyes for a split second and Patrick took that as a “no questions at the moment” sign. 

Time was either frozen or moving at a snail's pace, the forest seemed to stretch forever and the more they walked the more Patrick was starting to shiver, eventually ending up with his face pressed into Holly’s neck and attempting to curl into her fur to keep warmth. It wasn’t until he started coughing-or rather struggling to not cough and failing- that Joe finally looked at him again with concern. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“N-nothing, I’m just not u-used to this cold” talking through reindeer fur was difficult, so was talking with chattering teeth though 

Joe frowned and looked around them “you know now that you mention it I guess we have been walking for a while, I wonder what’s going on. By now I figured we would’ve gotten there...do you mind if I run ahead and just see if maybe we’re being kept out here for a reason?” 

“Whatever m-makes time go faster” another shiver hit Patrick and he burrowed his face deeper into the fur 

“Shit you really are cold aren’t you? Hang on, wear this ‘till I get back” Joe placed his coat over Patrick and patted Holly’s head “if you hear something weird run, we don’t need him getting hurt okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can” 

If she understood Joe she made no motions, just leaned down and started munching on some grass. Joe nodded and to Patrick’s surprise disappeared into what looked like a mini blizzard almost, comically large snowflakes zipped away down the path until Patrick was alone. Without Joe the forest seemed to get creepier, maybe it was because he was starting to look around and saw how dense the trees were, he didn’t think long on it as he tried to bury himself into Holly more than he already was as a freezing wind picked up. 

“If I f-freeze before I see that asshole in r-real life m'gonna kick his ass”  _ ass  _ was dragged out as he started shivering uncontrollably, this coat wasn’t doing shit against the cold. 

Holly had moved to munch on the bushes, she seemed fairly unconcerned about her previous owner freezing, either that or somehow since she was a magic reindeer she knew Patrick would be fine. Seconds or possibly hours passed, Patrick had no idea as his eyes grew heavy and the thought of sleep was starting to get more appealing compared to staying out in this freezing forest, maybe if he fell asleep then he’d wake up and Joe would be back-

In the distance a thunder crash jolted Patrick awake, Holly’s head snapping up and facing the direction it came from; both of their hearts were racing as the sound was followed by creaking and groaning, something was heading their way and if it was big enough to cause what sounded like a tree falling-

“Get going!” Patrick pulled on her fur in the other direction.

Holly made a distressed sound before bolting, Patrick almost falling off her back but threw his arms around her neck to keep a better hold. Apparently whatever had been making its way towards them wasn’t happy about its prey getting away, an unearthly scream sounded behind them and Patrick could hear the sound of heavy running; around them the forest seemed alive now, eyes appearing through the bushes and trees, figures disappearing like smoke once the two passed by and their pursuer seemed to be gaining on them as the enraged breathing of the thing sounded closer now. Holly had abandoned the path at this point racing through the underbrush in an attempt to lose whatever was chasing them, Patrick had been fighting the urge to look behind them but as his panic was growing he threw caution to the window and glanced back. 

It looked like a wolf mutated to the size of a dinosaur, jagged crystal looking fur coming off it and a slavering mouth of drool and teeth with burning hateful eyes, Patrick was pretty sure he’d piss himself if he wasn’t so frozen with fear. The wolf let out another scream and seemed to get a burst of energy, Patrick felt his world shrink down as the creature was right on them with its jaws wide open ready to bite down. He wasn’t sure what happened next but Holly suddenly let out a cry of fear and skidded, throwing Patrick from her back and landing on his back painfully, there was a threatening crack sound and before he registered it the “ground” under him broke causing him to fall into arctic water. He spluttered and desperately clawed at the ice chunks trying to pull himself up, Holly was standing on the banks of what he assumed was a lake, moving around and making panicked sounds as her owner was drowning.

The wolf creature seemed to have disappeared, at least Holly would be safe if Patrick drowned; speaking of his body was starting to go rigid, pain running through him as his fingers kept slipping on the chunk of ice. There was a weak scratchy sound that came out of his throat, whether it was supposed to be “help” or “Joe” he wasn’t even sure, the world slipped as he went under the ice. 

*

The first thing he registers when he comes to is that his eyes won’t open and his body is in  _ pain,  _ a kind of burning pain he’s never felt before but the best Patrick can compare it to is when the wind is on your ears too long and the blood is trying to rush back to them. The second is there are voices, muffled but loud and very angered, is he getting argued over whether he goes to Heaven or Hell? His muscles tensed as he tried moving, something heavy was over him and it felt...fuzzy, furry? For only a second his eyes allowed him to open to mere slits, thick brown fur was in his vision before his eyes closed again, he’d seen fur like that before, had been covered in it in one of his dreams Patrick was certain. He groaned again trying to open his eyes but his body was begging for sleep, again Patrick let himself slip into unconsciousness.

  
When he woke up again this time he could move, eyes opening to see the ceiling of the room and stars suspended on nothing, Patrick groaned as he sat up but his suspicions about being in this room before were confirmed-or at least in his dreams he’d been here. It was a failed attempt standing, as soon as he was on his feet his legs gave and his knees hit the floor, Patrick hissed and curled into a fetal position, fucking  _ ow.  _ It took a few more tries until Patrick could actually stand, he walked over to try the door expecting it to be locked and was surprised that it wasn’t. Peeking out of the room showed an empty hall that looked like it stretched for eons either way, well shit where was anywhere and where was  _ he? _

A strange chill swept over Patrick and he scuttled back to the bed, burrowing under the furs and curling into a ball; this was a bad idea, he should’ve just stayed at his grandmother’s and bene safe-

__

The sound of the door opening and closing softly made him freeze “Patrick?” 

__

That was Joe, but it sounded like someone else had walked in with him. Slowly Patrick shifted around and lifted the blanket enough to peek through a slit, Joe was standing a few feet away from the bed but someone else was standing closer, someone that Patrick had seen enough times in his dreams. The fur was pulled off him with Joe snapping “leave him alone!”, Patrick winced and covered his eyes for a moment as they readjusted to the light, when he could finally blink he found himself staring up at Winter. 


	4. Chapter 4

He was so much more beautiful than in dreams or the book; Winter’s skin was a baby blue contrasting harshly against his long dark hair, those same golden eyes he’d seen looked more life-like now and it looked like there were flecks of silver or blue in them. Finally, Patrick was seeing the man he was supposed to marry in real life, a million different emotions were bubbling around in his heart ranging from wanting to kiss him to saying hello. 

So instead he jerked the furs out of Winter’s hand and burrowed back under. 

Someone-Joe he assumed-made a strangled sound as if Patrick had just offended the highest authority, he could honestly care less since he was still freezing and the furs were warm. 

“Excuse  _ you _ ” Patrick grumbled, barely lifting the furs so at least his eyes peeked out “but I was drowning in a lake, so I’m going to stay under for now” 

“ _ Patrick”  _ Joe says in a strangled tone, his face is red and Patrick gets the feeling he’s offended Winter. 

There was a scoff and again the fur was pulled off Patrick, sure enough, Winter’s lips were pulled back in a snarl. 

“Well get used to the cold, since frost and ice are all that you will find here” he dropped the furs and turned to Joe gesturing to Patrick “has no one fed him yet?” 

“Your highness he only just woke up” Joe walked past Pete kneeling by the bed pulling the furs over Patrick “and currently we’re unable to find the berries, we think The Beast ripped them out whilst he was out” 

Winter scoffed and turned back to Patrick, his mouth was pressed into a thin line and he looked pretty annoyed or disappointed, both probably. Patrick just stared back annoyed, so much for a loving welcome; Joe thankfully sensing the room directed Pete’s attention back to whatever it was they’d been talking about, explaining that there might’ve been berries in the storeroom down below and that Joe could go check. The man agreed to his but flicked his wrist in a way that meant “go”, Patrick could see on Joe’s face that he’d hoped that Pete would leave Patrick alone. 

“What are you still doing here? Go!” Winter snapped 

“You don’t yell at him!” Patrick snapped back. 

Winter’s face flickered to one of surprise before settling back to annoyance, poor Joe was just standing there looking like a lost puppy; however, the king of snow did mumble an apology and asked Joe to please go check for the berries, unfortunately, that left Patrick alone with Winter. He sat on the bed and regarded Patrick again, the silence between them was starting to stretch on to an uncomfortable level before he finally spoke. 

“Your reindeer is safe, she’s with my other at the moment. One of my faeries found her and she led them to you” 

Patrick resisted the urge to scoff “her name is Holly” 

Winter made a small huff through his nose and looked around the room “the beast that chased you is not allowed out of its cage unless required, I’m not sure why it was out or how it found you but consequences will be delt” 

“Can you even pretend to be happy to see me?” he wasn’t sure why he wanted that but Patrick felt even more unwelcome than he feared.

A flicker of surprise crossed Winter’s face as he looked at Patrick again before settling back on an indifferent one “I don’t know how to feel about you being here. The only thing I know of you is that you are the one my soul is tied to and that we are to wed, anything else is a mystery to me” 

Well, he didn’t need to be so realistic about it. 

Patrick sniffed and burrowed back under the blankets, he heard a heavy sigh and felt a weight lift off the bed. He frowned hearing heavy thuds before squeaking as the blanket was pulled up again but dropped on the now two occupants under, Winter laid next to him on his side with a less cold look but more of a...studying look. Meanwhile, Patrick was beginning to shiver, it shouldn’t have been surprising that Winter was cold but it felt like the man was a walking sub-zero ice man, the furs no longer warm. Winter frowned and reached up, Patrick gasped at how his fingers were frigid as he took Patrick’s chin between his thumb and index finger, the younger man had no idea what was to come next as icy lips were pressed to his. 

Immediately it felt like Patrick was back in the lake, his whole body was doused in an icy burn but for some reason, he didn't try and back away from Winter; instead, for reasons he can’t think of other than because he was kissing his possible future husband, Patrick scooted a little closer. He whimpered when Winter broke the kiss, looking into gold eyes confused before he realized something; he wasn’t cold anymore. 

“You were aware before you came here that all there is will be cold” Winter mumbled, his fingers felt like a heater now as he stroked his thumb along Patrick’s cheek “there is nothing in my realm but ice and frost, you saw that even the forest was dead, buried under my snow. Nothing is here but me and my winter” 

Patrick scoffed “oh  _ cut  _ the dramatic bullshit, yeah snow and ice can suck and everything's cold but there  _ is  _ life in winter” 

Gold eyes blinked, genuinely looking baffled “how would you know that’ 

“ _ Because  _ I work at a flower industry and I know what grows in the snow. There’s a lot of beautiful things, people just don’t look” 

He always got the weirdest looks when he admitted he liked snow over sun, but seriously there was beauty if you just looked instead of bitched about the cold. Winter had a different look in his eyes then, still confused but almost...pleased in a way, not happy but like if you went to the store and there was a sale on your favorite snack kind of happy. 

“I should see if the snowberries have been found” Winter mumbled, he sat up and started to slide out of bed but stopped and looked back at Patrick “do you drink wine?” 

“What? Oh um” Patrick mused on that, he wasn’t that into wine or drinking necessarily “I’m okay with it, I prefer white wine though” 

Winter hummed and seemed to keep that noted, Patrick lay there watching him slip his boots back on and hook the cloak back over his shoulders; he told Patrick to stay in the room until someone came for him tomorrow, part of Patrick wanted to argue but he had a feeling that he wasn’t as rested as he thought, with a promise of dinner and goodbye Winter left the room. 

*

He’d fallen back to sleep when someone knocked on his door, groggily Patrick said to come in and a person wearing similar clothes to Joe stepped in with a tray of food and a warm drink. They let go momentarily making Patrick jump but he watched in awe as the tray floating to a table that seemed to quite literally grow out of the icy floor, the snow faerie looked amused (or maybe annoyed) at Patrick’s wide eyes and left the room without a word. The tray looked like it was made of ice and had fused into the table, even the plates and silverware looked to be made of crystal. The food was cooked meat and some steaming vegetables, mashed potatoes and bread with warm cheese and butter melted over it; on a smaller plate was some kind of pastry, it smelled heavenly with a little powdered sugar dusted over it and through the ends Patrick could see a red filling, probably the berries Joe was looking for. 

This was the best meal Patrick had ever had, he even moaned as he took a few bites, if wherever he was had this amazing of cooking maybe he’d stay for the food more than anything else. He used to bread to mop up some of the melted cheese before taking a long drink of the warm cup, a pleasant feeling filled his head as he set it down realizing that it was heated white wine, had Winter made sure he received it? That was sweet Patrick thought as he took another gulp. Feeling warm and full now he regarded the mystery pastry with curiosity, it smelled heavenly and was wonderfully warm but he  _ was  _ full...still, he wasn’t happy that Winter had snapped at Joe so he’d better eat it-

“Ugh!” Patrick gagged on the bite he’d taken, accidentally swallowing it and shaking his head rapidly “oh my god, that’s so bitter!” 

It tasted like a raw chokeberry but somehow worse, the heavenly smell was a ruse and Patrick had fallen for it. He set the pastry down and wrapped the furs around his shoulders, was that supposed to be a test to get rid of him or was it some kind of a traditional dish? Regardless Patrick wasn't eating it, the bitterness was almost ruining his meal as his throat burned slightly. Sleep started to overtake him again but so did the returning feeling of cold, Patrick frowned and tried curling into a ball under the furs but somehow this wasn’t helping, what was going on? Did he need to find Winter again and kiss him? No, maybe he just needed to go to sleep, he’d probably warm up in the morning. 

Except even as he curled in on himself and rubbed his hands or shut his eyes the cold just wouldn’t go away, shit maybe he did need to find Winter. Throwing the furs back Patrick gasped as his legs gave out again, this time it felt like something had struck his legs as he crumbled and his hands felt like they were burning; if the kiss Winter gave him felt like he was underwater again before now Patrick was certain that he was still drowning in that lake. His legs refused to allow him to stand but somehow he was able to crawl and crawl he did, not towards the door though but towards the ice table where the pastry still lay. Patrick had a theory about why Winter was so insistent on him getting those berries, as bitter as it tasted he’d rather test his theory than deal with these tremors that were starting to get worse. 

It was a good thing the tray had fused to the table, otherwise, Patrick was pretty sure the whole thing would’ve crashed down as he fumbled to grab the pastry, as soon as he had a hold on it he immediately stuffed a large bite into his mouth. The bitterness tasted like hell, it reminded him of the first time he drank and how he’d choked from the burn but Patrick did notice that he was beginning to feel so much warmer, he finished off the last few bites and crawled back into bed. The furs felt warm again and Patrick sighed gratefully, burrowing under again and closing his eyes; if he saw Winter tomorrow-or maybe later since he had no clue what time it was-then he’d have to ask why the berries were so bitter and if there was any way to make them sweeter. 

* * *

“Patrick?” 

He scrunched his eyes tightly before blinking them a little, eye crusts annoying him. Patrick was still under the furs and had once again slept dead to the world, that voice sounded familiar though and when he poked his head out he saw it was Joe. 

“Oh good, you’re up” Joe’s smile was relieved, was Patrick in danger last night? 

“Was I not supposed to?” Patrick rubbed at his eyes and noticed he didn’t feel cold, maybe that pastry did help him after all “actually don’t answer that, what was that pastry? It tasted awful” 

Joe nodded looking sympathetic “they always do the first time you eat them, I’m not sure why honestly. But uh, the lake’s enchanted so that’s why Pete needed me to get you that pastry, the berries help allow someone to get used to how cold it is here, magic again”

“So then I’ll have to eat more of them, but they’ll taste better?” Patrick asked warily, Joe nodded “ah okay...um, did you come here to check on me?” 

“That and I wanted to take you around the castle. I brought you breakfast by the way, you’re gonna want to eat up” Joe snapped his fingers and sure enough, a tray floated from behind him and settled on the ice table again. 

A steaming plate of bacon and eggs, several biscuits and more meat, yeah Patrick was staying for the food  _ definitely.  _ Joe talked to him then about what happened to him and Holly, lucky for Patrick he’d finished breakfast before he could lose his appetite; apparently there was a huge essentially primordial snow monster that was always kept under wraps by Pete, as the years went on though and responsibilities became more and more Pete delegated the position to someone else to be the “beast master” and by freak accident last night the cage door had been broken. Something in Joe’s eyes and tone though had Patrick suspecting there was more to it, maybe Joe didn’t think it was an accident.

“Anyway, ready to go?” Joe stood up and held his hand out, he looked pretty excited to show Patrick around.

“Sure...um” he paused and looked down at himself “can I have...different clothes?” 

“Huh? Oh sure uh, open the wardrobe and clothes should be in there. What?” Joe laughed at Patrick’s baffled expression “magic again, it’s not gonna be there at every turn but there should be clothes in there for you” 

“Makes sense as much as anything else” 

Joe left to stand in the hall while Patrick opened the wardrobe, to his surprise it wasn’t cold as he opened the doors and stared to see a full rack of clothes. He didn't really care about fashion so Patrick just pulled a ready outfit off a hanger, dark blue with fur on the cuffs of the sleeves and pants, Patrick marveled at how soft it was as he ran his hand over the shirt a few times before finally unbuttoning it and getting dressed. He slipped on some black boots he hadn’t noticed by the door before exiting the room, Joe paused before nodding with a smile. 

“It suits you, you look good” 

Patrick blushed a little “thanks I guess. So what’d you wanna show me?” 


End file.
